Friendship Is Science We Do Not Understand
by L-chan the Great
Summary: If friendship is magic, and magic is science we don't yet understand, then friendship must be science we don't understand!  With this hypothesis, Quantum Leap goes to Ponyville to study friendship, compensating for failures along the way.
1. Quantum's Leap

**For all of you who have read my stories before/are currently reading some... Sorry for starting a new one... Ahaha...**

**Anyway! This is a collab between me and my friend, Zane. And by collab, I mean that I wrote it, and he is doing illustrations. Which you can't see on here, so you'll be missing out, sorry!**

**Quantum Leap, the character, belongs to Zane, as well as the whole idea with the transitive property. I just made it into a story.**

**Of course, Lilyflower is mine. :) Enjoy.**

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><p>Quantum Leap shifted his weight nervously as he waited impatiently in the grand hall outside the throne room. A confusing mix of emotions threatened to overwhelm the bright yellow pony—nerves, anxiety, and even excitement. His wings stretched and folded repeatedly, until one of the nobles waiting beside him coughed pointedly at the nerve-wracked pony.<p>

In response, he coughed pointedly right back at the noble. He wasn't about to let some pompous stallion boss him around on today of all days! Still, he forced himself to stop fidgeting regardless, and focused instead on the reason that he was here.

Ever since reading about Twilight Sparkle's triumph over Discord with the elements of harmony, the pegasus's mind conjured an idea that just wouldn't let go. Always the scientist, Quantum Leap _had_ to experiment for himself and unlock the secrets of this concept that had quickly taken a hold on his mind.

He just _had_ to go to Ponyville, as soon as possible!

Unfortunately, the move and necessary equipment for whatever experiments he needed to conduct were expensive, and he simply didn't have the proper funds for it. That was why he was here today, finally after months of requests for an audience with Princess Celestia. It was why he was waiting in the intimidating, grand room, with its ceiling that reached to the heavens, and the great crystal chandelier that, when the light from the rising sun hit it just right, cast rainbow beams on the colorful stained-glass windows. Just looking at those decorated windows, stretching from floor to ceiling, made the nerves return with a vengeance.

The young stallion shook his head to clear it of those thoughts. There was no reason to continue down that road. Instead, he turned to the presentation he'd prepared; flipping through the papers to make sure everything was in order. Everything was, and the task was finished quickly.

He sighed and looked about the room again. There was a single couch on the other side of the room; so far away that it looked like an ant from where he stood by the great double oak doors. He fancied that he could see another noble pony sitting upon it delicately, but he knew that it was all in his imagination. Nopony could see that far, unless they had hawk eyes. Or griffin eyes, for that matter.

"So, what did you think of my presentation?" he asked one of the guards standing at the doors.

Said guard rolled his eyes. Earlier, Quantum Leap had given a mock presentation of his proposal to everypony present. Since then, he'd asked for the guard's opinion at least ten times, and that was more of an underestimate than anything.

"You'll do fine, as I told you the last nine times you asked," the white stallion said.

"Actually, it was the last four_teen_ times I asked. This was the fifteenth," Quantum Leap babbled nervously, earning himself another eye roll at the guard chose to ignore him.

Finally, the giant doors swung open. He jumped into the air in a mixture of surprise and utter excitement, fluttering his wings as his feet gently touched the ground. As soon as the royal attendant called, "Mr. Quantum Leap", he had already gathered his presentation board and pointing stick and was halfway inside the throne room.

It was another grand hall he'd entered, although probably only half the size of the other, he noted with his sharp eyes. A long, red rug trimmed with gold led from the door straight up to the two ornate thrones. In one of them sat the great alicorn of the sun—Princess Celestia. The other throne, where Princess Luna would be if she wasn't somewhere among the people, honing her social skills, sat empty.

Now in the presence of one of the most powerful mares in all of Equestria, Quantum Leap lowered his head respectfully as he slowly made his way up to the thrones. The sparkling white tiles dazzled him in the plentiful daylight filling the room through the large windows, which were so many and so close that it almost turned the sides of the room into walls of glass.

When he finally reached the foot of the throne, he bent his knees to bow deeply. "Good day, my most wonderful princess," he half-whispered, his voice filled with reverence for his beloved ruler. "My respects to the absent Princess Luna as well," he added, glancing at the empty throne.

With his head bowed so low, with his face almost pressed into the plush carpet, he didn't see the warm, glowing smile that Princess Celestia cast over her subject. "And good day to you, too, Mr. Quantum Leap. I am sure that my sister would return your greeting as well. Please rise, my beloved subject. I hear you have a proposal for me?" the solar princess asked.

His head popped up so quickly that he almost lifted himself off the ground with the force of it (considering all he knew about physics and such that would be a little ridiculous). As it was, he shook his wings a bit to cast off the left-over nerves. Standing up his presentation board, he cleared his throat and was all business.

"I do, Princess. Of course you know of your student, Twilight Sparkle's recent defeat of Discord using the elements of harmony," the stallion began, standing tall and proud.

Celestia gave him an amused smile. "Yes, I do, but it is hardly a recent event by now," she said without malice.

Quantum Leap cleared his throat. It had taken him a few months to secure a date to have an audience with the princess, so of course his presentation was a tad outdated. "Well, while that is true for regular ponies such as myself, I don't believe a few months can hardly be considered a long time for immortal alicorns," he said without losing his composure.

This quick answer drew a chuckle from the mare. "Fair enough. Please continue," she said.

He ran a hoof over his short electric-blue mane, suddenly wishing he'd invested in a bit of gel to smooth his messy mane. "Thank you." The scientist pony turned to the board to flip to the first page of his presentation. With the side view, his cutie mark was more visible—a picture of an atom and electrons circling the nucleus on rings. Such a cutie mark promised a deep understanding and talent for science, at least on the atomic level.

The first visual was simple, not yet giving any information on what his request was. It was a picture of the elements of harmony.

"As you know, to use the elements requires an understanding of what friendship is, and magic is the spark that binds them," Quantum Leap said, pointing unnecessarily to the picture.

He flipped the page to one with an overwhelming amount of words that Princess Celestia honestly couldn't read, even at the fairly close distance.

"Now, this may seem too long and too small, so I don't expect you to be able to read it before I turn the page. No offense meant of course, Princess," he added sheepishly. "But it is a list of various instances where _magic_, actually turned out to have a scientific basis, except we did not understand it at the time."

When Celestia raised a questioning eyebrow, he became flustered. "But, of course, magic _does _exist, only it follows a very mysterious, yet specific code that scientists have not been able to uncover!" he said. He cleared his throat again. "Moving on…"

The next page was an application of the transitive property. In big, bold type was **"If a=b, and b=c, then a=c"**. Below that, in italics, it said, "_In this case, friendship is 'a', magic is 'b', and 'c' refers science we don't understand_". In all honesty, the relevance of the equation confused Princess Celestia.

Sensing his ruler's confusion, Quantum Leap was quick to explain. "This is simple really. As I stated just now, magic is often science that we don't yet understand. But, as the elements of harmony show, friendship _is _magic. Thus, if friendship is magic, and magic is science we don't understand, then by the Transitive Property of Mathematics, friendship is science we don't understand!" he finished, proud of his mastery of the topic.

Celestia nodded, indicating that she followed what he was saying. "I see. What is your request then?" she asked.

Quantum Leap put away the presentation board, which had largely failed as a visual. "I'd like funding to move to Ponyville and assist Twilight Sparkle in her study of friendship. The only difference is that I will be researching the scientific aspect of friendship," he told the princess.

Silence fell over the throne room as Celestia considered his proposal. The single minute felt like hours as Quantum Leap stood there, nervously awaiting Princess Celestia's response. He could feel himself sweating underneath his coat. There was no way she could refuse his request, after he'd waited so many months to secure this chance. His tail twitched nervously. He had to get this funding, he just _had _to.

Finally, Princess Celestia spoke, in a steady, careful tone that gave away nothing, much to the torture of the scientist stallion. "I have made my decision now," she announced needlessly.

He nodded eagerly. "Yes, Princess?" There was no way to conceal the anxiety in his voice.

"I have decided…" Another pause for dramatic effect. "… to grant you the funding necessary for your project."

For a moment, he couldn't believe his ears. She was granting him the funding. _She was granting him the funding!_ "Yes!" he cheered, punching his hoof at the empty air in his elation.

Princess Celestia chuckled. "Please work hard and report any findings you make to me," she told him.

He barely registered what she said. "Yes, yes, of course! Thank you so much for this opportunity! Thank you, thank you!" he said. He bowed low.

"Farewell, Princess, I swear to work as hard as I can. Thanks again!" he said, jumping into the air and zooming from the throne room as fast as his wings could take him. He was gone before the princess could call out a good bye to him.

This was an event that was too exciting to just run along. He felt so energized that he simply couldn't get out of the air. So he flew out of the castle at high speed, swooping and narrowly evading pillars and various other obstacles. It was honestly a miracle that he made it outside without injuring himself or someone else at the speed he was going.

Once outside, he made a beeline toward the edge of Canterlot, where his friend lived. He couldn't wait to tell her the good news!

Meanwhile, a young unicorn with a light blue coat stood at a long table in a small, cramped room. Above her head was the only source of light—a small dusty light bulb, flickering weakly. She paid it no heed as she bent over the clarinet in front of her, her front hooves planted on the tabletop in order to get a better look.

She prodded the instrument with her horn, twisting it to get a better look. Her eyebrows were furrowed in utmost concentration as she examined the clarinet.

Suddenly, she straightened up, flipping the long bangs of her navy blue mane from obstructing her vision. "Aha! There's the problem!" she announced triumphantly to the empty room.

The mare trotted over to one of the many cramped shelves that lined the room of her workshop. She scanned her tools until she found what she wanted. Her horn glowing, she lifted a small screwdriver from the clutter and brought it back over to the table. Bracing her hooves gently on the expensive instrument, she used the screwdriver to gently straighten out one of the bent keys.

Satisfied with her work, she set the tool down and levitated the clarinet instead. She brought it to her mouth and blew gently. The note, a G, resonated through the room, bouncing off the walls. The mare nodded, pleased that she had fixed the air leak. It was a common problem for clarinets, but also quite an annoying one.

She disassembled the clarinet and returned it to its case. Her assistant was _so _fired, after having dropped yet another instrument. Musical instruments were expensive, especially ones with so many keys as a clarinet, flute or saxophone. Only the most skilled unicorn musicians could manage the many keys and holes required to play them. Those were usually also the ones who had the money to spend on the quality instruments that she made.

Shaking her head, she sighed regretfully. No, she knew that she would not fire her assistant. That would just be so _mean, _and it would make her feel so _bad_. Maybe she would just give the colt a stern lecture and a slap on the hoof. Yes, that would be discipline enough.

She turned off the light and left her workshop, entering a larger room that was just as cluttered. This part made up the store of her building. Several instruments were set out on display, pushed neatly against a bookshelf, stocked from floor to ceiling with sheet music and music books. A couple pianos were in the middle of the room, staggeringly high prices taped neatly to each beautifully-made instrument.

With a gentle smile, the unicorn went to the cash register, which was placed on top of a display case filled with various accessories for each instrument—reeds, cork grease, valve oil, polish, guitar picks, various cleaning supplies, and more. Content that everything was in place, she sat and waited for the first customers of the day.

At least, until she heard somepony yell off in the distance. She frowned. Canterlot was a fairly peaceful city, after you got past the bustle and noise of the social centers. Even so, her music store was _away_ from the busier areas, for that exact purpose, and so hearing yells was fairly rare.

She listened carefully as the yelling increased in volume. Apparently, whoever was yelling was coming closer…

The unicorn gasped in sudden realization. "Oh no!"

Pointing her horn at the window, she jerked her head upward. The heavy window followed with a creaking reluctance. "Oh dear Celestia, will you open up?" she pleaded using all of her magical might.

Unfortunately, all her magical might wasn't strong enough to get the window up in time. Just as she managed to get it past the halfway mark, a bright yellow blur crashed through with a mighty shout of "Lilyyyyyyyyy!" The wooden sill splintered and the window shattered, glass scattering about the shop at the high-speed blur came to an abrupt stop by banging into the opposite wall.

The shelves emptied themselves onto the crash-landed pony, dropping heavy volumes of music books onto both him and the instruments that he had missed. She gasped, running over to the pile of destruction.

"Oh no, oh no!" she cried, her horn glowing as she removed the heaviest books from the pile and returned them to their respective shelves. "Are you alright?"

The question was directed at one of the guitars that were trapped beneath the pile. She examined it closely as the cause of the destruction stumbled away from the books that had knocked him silly. The stallion staggered about, trying to regain his balance. He shook his head, trying to rid his vision of the bright stars that blinded him.

"Oh, don't worry about… about me, Lily, I'll be… fine," he said dizzily, finally deciding to sit down instead of attempting and failing to stand.

With a sigh of relief, Lily—actually Lilyflower—determined that her instruments were fine. That was when she noticed her friend.

"Oh my! Are you alright, Leap?" she cried again, this time hurrying over to examine her friend's wellbeing.

Quantum Leap nodded as he regained proper use of his eyes. An overwhelming amount of raspberry and black colors assaulted him. "Ack!" he yelped, jumping back.

Lilyflower jumped back as well. "What? What is it?" she asked, startled at his reaction. She looked around, but there was nothing in her store that was out of the ordinary.

He realized that the colors were just Lilyflower's eyes really close. Laughing sheepishly at his moment of fail, he shook his head. "Ahaha, don't worry about it, Lily. It was nothing."

She gave him a suspicious glare for a few moments, and decided to drop it. She shook her head to dismiss the subject. "Whatever. More importantly, why did you feel it necessary to fly in here as fast as you could (and, oh my Celestia, you fly _fast_) and destroy the new window I installed just yesterday and nearly break all my new displays. _Again_."

Quantum Leap laughed nervously again, remembering the last time he'd made some huge discovery, and just had to tell his friend about it right that minute. Only last time, the instruments hadn't survived the visit. "Really sorry about that, Lily. I'll pay for it again, I swear," he said.

The mare rolled her eyes and looked back at the mess she still had to clean up. "Of course you will. But that wasn't the question, was it?" she asked, sounding annoyed. She'd been looking forward to another quiet business day until the pegasus just burst into the store like it was the open skies.

Her question reminded Quantum Leap why he was here in the first place. With a burst of excitement, the stallion leapt to his feet. "I finally got an audience with Princess Celestia today!"

Lilyflower's eyes widened. "Really? Oh my dear Celestia, that's _amazing_!" she said, surprised. Then she suddenly pouted. "But… Why didn't you tell me? _Me_, your best _friend_?" she asked accusingly.

He dismissed her hurt with a wave of his hoof. "Oh, you know me, Lily. Once I heard, I was just too busy making my presentation absolutely perfect, because I didn't want to mess up this once in a lifetime opportunity," he explained.

She furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. "Wait, what presentation?"

Now it was Quantum Leap's turn to be hurt. "Oh, come on, Lily! The one that I've been talking about since Twilight Sparkle defeated Discord months ago!"

Clarity suddenly dawned upon her features. "Oh, right! The one about friendship and science and stuff," Lilyflower said with a nod.

He shrugged one shoulder. "Well, specifically, it's about my hypothesis that friendship is science that we don't understand," he said.

She gave him a flat stare. "Quantum Leap, I will kick you out of my store," she warned.

He laughed off her threat. "Anyway, I told the princess all about my hypothesis, and she agreed to grant me funding to move to Ponyville and conduct any experiments I need!" he told her.

There was a silence. Lilyflower felt life her heart skipped a beat, or two, or three. "Ponyville?" she asked breathlessly.

The upbeat pegasus was oblivious to her sudden change. "Yep!"

"Where…" She swallowed hard. "Where Twilight Sparkle lives?"

He laughed again. "Well, of course! I'm going to be studying _with _her! It's a little hard to do that when she's there, and I'm here in Canterlot!"

She bit her lip. "U—um, could I, maybe, go with you?"

The stallion stopped mid-laugh. "Wait, what? Why would you go?" he asked.

Lilyflower fidgeted, kicking at an imaginary stone on the wooden floor. "Well, um, business here is really slow and stuff, so Ponyville might be a little better, you know," she said, stuttering nervously.

He raised an eyebrow. "You think _Ponyville_, a tiny town of simple ponies, will be better than _Canterlot_, where all the greatest musicians, and your highest paying clients, are?" he asked slowly.

The mare stamped her hooves impatiently. "Ok, ok, ok!" she conceded, throwing her head back in frustration. "I just really, really, _really_, want to meet Twilight Sparkle. She's my _idol_! I mean, she's saved all of Equestria _twice_! It would just be so, so cool to meet her! Just once! Come on, please, please, _pleeeeeeeeeaaaaaase_!"

Quantum Leap laughed at her pleading eyes. "Oh come on, Lily, of course you can come. I mean, you have to pay for yourself, so I can't really stop you if you want to move to Ponyville as well," he said.

Lilyflower looked absolutely faint in her ecstasy. "Yes! I don't care if I have to pay, and I'll help you if you need help, and… Oh Celestia, yes! I'm going to Ponyville! I'm going to meet Twilight Sparkle! Yes, yes, yes!" She jumped around in a wide circle along the walls of her store.

Unnerved by one of his friend's rare fangirly expressions, Quantum Leap began to back up toward the smashed-open window of the music shop. "Um, ok then. We're leaving tomorrow, so make sure you're ready early in the morning. And you're paying for the coach, by the way," he added.

Since he didn't get back any response from the unicorn other than "Yes, yes, yes!" he decided that this was a good time to leave her company. She probably wouldn't even notice he was gone for a couple hours, if she even remembered why she was excited by then. Maybe he could even trick her into thinking that her attendant broke the window, and he wouldn't have to pay to get it fixed again.

With that warming thought, he once again took to the air and flew in the direction of his house, much more slowly, to enjoy the lovely Equestrian sunshine that warmed his coat and heart.

Today was the best day of his life.


	2. Welcomes, Star Strikes, and Ego Poppers

**Hello all my fellow bronies, and curious/supportive non-bronies! Here is the much awaited (by me) second chapter of Friendship is Science, in which Quantum Leap destroys Lilyflower's things, Lilyflower creeps everyone out, and they finally meet two of the Mane 6! Tune in now, for the breathtaking continuation of FiS!**

**Hahaha, sorry about that. That was fun to type.**

**ATTENTION! The pictures from chapter 1 are FINALLY up on Deviant Art! They're on the account Spice-Fox, which is my friend's account, and mine is Kiana-Neko-Chan, so if you see replies with the latter, that's just me responding to everyone in place of my lazy friend (but he appreciates the comments nonetheless!)**

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><p>As Quantum Leap promised, he arrived at Lilyflower's house bright and early in the morning. Well, minus the "bright" part. Unless you counted the faint rosy pink just barely gracing Equestria as the sun touched the sky with its first pale rays. And usually the pegasus wouldn't count that. He just didn't like getting up that early.<p>

Of course, today was an exception.

However, when he reached Lilyflower's house (which was so close to her store, it would probably be easier to _live _in the music shop), and banged a hoof noisily against her front door, he discovered that perhaps his friend didn't think it was much of an exception.

He stood there for five minutes, patiently waiting for the door to open. When it didn't, he rang the doorbell and continued to wait. Still nothing.

He face-hooved. "Come on, Lily. Really? _Really_?" he asked the door. To his ever-growing frustration, it didn't answer him.

"Fine! Have it your way!" Quantum Leap called at the quiet house after it had been some minutes more, and he still found himself standing outside in the silent morning's air (which was actually quite chilly, considering it was summer, and not really the kind of air he wanted to be standing around in).

Turning around, he readied himself and, with a spring, he kicked out with both of his back legs. The door bashed open, slamming into the wall with two sizable dents in the wood.

There was a loud thump and the sound of hooves scrambling against the upstairs floor. Within seconds, Lilyflower appeared at the top of the stairs, mane wild and unkempt from having fallen out of bed. Her eyes were wide in alarm, until she saw Quantum Leap and her door, after which her eyes widened to an impossible size with her increasing panic.

"Oh my Celestia, what did you _do_ to my _door_?" The mare's voice was several octaves too high in her hysteria.

Quantum Leap inspected the damage with a deep frown. "Well, I'll tell you what I _didn't_ do, and that's put two large holes in your door. I'm losing my touch," he said, with a shake of his head.

Lilyflower gaped, looking from him to the door. She gingerly descended the stairs to get a closer look. "There's… There are two gigantic _craters_ in my door!" she exclaimed.

He rolled his eyes. "Actually, it's only two hoof-sized dents, and no where near the size of a crater." He put his hoof against the dent and traced it. "See? Not even the proper shape of a classic crater."

For a minute, she appeared to fight some internal struggle, mouth still gaped in disbelief. Finally, she shook her head. "You know what? Forget it. I swear, I should be used to this by now," she mumbled to herself, now looking around her room as if to make sure nothing else was broken.

"You should," he replied, although she hadn't been addressing him. She effectively ignored his comment, in favor of asking a question.

"Why are you here so early in the morning? Do you even know what time it is?" she demanded, noting the lack of sunlight outside.

The stallion shrugged. "Well, I don't know the exact time, but if I had a little bit of time to set up a stick in the ground, I could easily calculate a close estimate by using the length and position of its shadow," he told her.

She lightly kicked at his leg. "Stop that."

He easily evaded the half-hearted kick, with a light laugh. "Ok, ok, fine," he consented. "I'm here because we're moving to Ponyville, remember? Bright and early in the morning?"

The unicorn sighed in exasperation. "I didn't know that meant dawn to you." She glanced outside again. "Geez, Leap, it's not even _bright_ out there!"

He shrugged nonchalantly. "Well, I couldn't wait any longer. So let's go already!" he said impatiently.

Once again, Lilyflower sighed, this time in resignation. "Fine, let me just go get my stuff," she said, trotting upstairs.

After she had returned with a trunk full of only the necessary things (a music book or two, a couple instruments, her tools, and various kitchen appliances), they went off to catch a coach. It was a wonder that the office was even running that early in the morning when Lilyflower paid the bleary-eyed worker. As it was, even the pegasi who were to be whisking them off to Ponyville appeared sleepy and reluctant to be at work. They didn't say anything, but it was obvious from their grumpy faces that they resented her and Quantum Leap for being such early risers.

"A pegasus and a unicorn, huh?" one of the coach-pullers asked, eyeing his passengers. It was no secret that both he and his companion thought that if they were such morning ponies, then they were perfectly capable of walking (or, in Leap's case, flying) to Ponyville on their own.

"Well, obviously we're not earth ponies, are we?" Quantum Leap pointed out, getting into the coach.

Since the scientist stallion was already seated inside, he didn't see the sharp glare his blunt words earned him. Lilyflower did, however, and she gave an embarrassed smile.

"Um, sorry. Thank you for taking us," she said in a shaky voice.

Her apology, meant to soften the atmosphere, only made the intimidating pegasi glare harder. With a small 'eep!' Lilyflower quickly scrambled in after her friend. Without wasting another moment, their paid escorts to Ponyville each spread their wings, firm and strong from years of dragging ponies of all shapes and sizes across the sky, and took to the air.

Quantum Leap settled himself into the cushion, folding his knees carefully under him. He stretched his neck back, allowing the wind to toss his mane. "Ah, how totally awesome it is to be in the air," he said with a content sigh as the mare folded her legs beneath her as well, albeit more awkwardly with her stunted appendages.

Lilyflower smiled and nodded, more to be polite than to actually express any kind of agreement on her part. Although, truthfully, the air was thrilling for an earth-bound pony such as herself. She peeked over the edge to see if they had left Canterlot. The unicorn let out a soft gasp when she saw tall, pointed trees spearing into the sky, and not a sign of civilization to be found. She immediately regretted looking down.

She wasn't sure which was worse—the dizzying height, or the apparent speed the coach was going.

It was time to change the direction her thoughts were taking (not the least of which was a random tornado thrusting down through the clear, quickly-brightening sky, breaking the harnesses that kept the pegasi to the coach and the two passengers afloat, causing the coach and the two ponies in it to crash to the ground in a splintered mess).

"So, why couldn't I just take a train to Ponyville, and you fly?" she asked, more or less failing to mask the frightened tremor in her voice.

Quantum Leap rolled her eyes, oblivious to the fact that Lily was only babbling by now. "Well, considering the distance from Canterlot to Ponyville, and the amount of energy I must expend for an hours worth of flying, it is scientifically unrealistic for me to fly to Ponyville," he told her, then added, "Besides, you don't like travelling alone."

Lilyflower laughed at his cool manner of speaking coupled with his complete obliviousness to the atmosphere, forgetting most of her fear for heights. "True, true!" she said. "Although I wish we both could have just taken the train."

"But flying is so _awesome_!" Leap returned with wide eyes.

She sighed. "Maybe for someone who was born in _Cloudsdale_. But you know how scared I am of heights," she pointed out.

The stallion snorted disdainfully. "Acrophobia is for the weak."

Lilyflower tried to hide the light blush of embarrassment. She knew, from the many times she heard Quantum Leap use the word in reference to her, that 'acrophobia' was the fear of heights. "It's a wide-spread fear in earth ponies, unicorns, and even _pegasi_," she said defensively.

Leap shrugged and turned his head to watch the passing clouds, dismissing the conversation with a flick of his tail. Lily sighed, unhappy with being ignored, and followed suit, staring as the white wisps flew by. Some clouds they actually passed right through, buffeting her and clinging to her mane in ways that made Leap burst out with laughter as she vigorously shook them off.

By the by, they lapsed into a comfortable silence, happy to just relax and enjoy the journey to Ponyville. Until Lilyflower broke the silence with a question that had been bugging her for a while now.

"Um, so, did you get your little brother a new job?" she asked.

Quantum Leap looked at her, his eyes unfocused. "Huh? Oh, no, he'll be fine," he said. "Why?"

The mare shrugged. "I was just under the impression that you wanted him to learn the ethics of hard work," she said.

He shrugged. "I have the feeling that Flare Chaser won't be so eager to get another job any time soon," he said with a light sigh of regret.

Before she could stop herself, Lily blurted out, "Good!" She gasped a bit at the slip up and looked down, her mane flipping over her eyes. "Oh, sorry. I didn't mean to say that," she murmured quickly.

However, Quantum Leap only waved off her apology. "Whatever, I know how much my little brother cost you. His accidental destruction level is on par with mine," he joked with a grin.

Lilyflower gave him a grateful smile and a small chuckle. "Oh, I think he's actually worse than you. You only destroy my store about once a week. Flare Chaser breaks my most expensive instruments on a daily _basis_," she said.

Quantum Leap laughed. "Is that so?" he asked, and the conversation trailed away.

That is, until the endless sea of trees suddenly fell away, and the coach began to descend. Lilyflower couldn't suppress the small gasp of excitement from escaping, and looked down despite herself.

"Oh, oh, look, Leap! There it is! There's Ponyville! Oh!" The mare squealed in delight. "This is it, this is it! I'm finally going to meet my number one idol in the entire _universe_! I've been dreaming about this since I was a filly! Well, not quite that long, since Twilight Sparkle is about the same age as me, and we probably went to school together. Oh, Leap, I can't believe I probably went to _school_ with Twilight _Sparkle_!"

She stopped abruptly when she saw the look on her companion's face. With a nervous laugh, she looked away. "I should probably stop blabbering now," she said, ashamed of her outburst.

Quantum Leap sighed in relief. "_Thank _you," he breathed. Lily was really a dear friend to him—she really was a good pony—but when an object of her admiration appeared, she was just unbearable.

When they touched down to the ground, the sun had risen well above the horizon. It was still early morning, but not _that_ ridiculously early. Unless you were one of the two pegasi who'd been pulling a coach through the sky for a couple hours since dawn, of course, then it was _ludicrously _early (another word Lily had learned from talking with Leap).

Neither Lilyflower nor Quantum Leap paid the grumbling pegasi any mind as they scrambled out of the coach. Lily lifted her trunk out barely in time as the irritated ponies launched back into the air, nearly taking her belongings with them.

She frowned at their retreating figures. "Hmph, how rude of them to take off and nearly making me lose my stuff," she sniffed, her bad mood from earlier when Leap destroyed her door coming back at full force.

Quantum Leap ignored her, looking around Ponyville. "Lily, quit griping over worker ponies and help me search for a tree house library," he told her.

Lilyflower turned to him, pushing the complaints from her mind. "Huh? Tree house library? Why?" she asked. Were they going to room with some zealous, book-loving fillies and colts?

"The princess instructed me to contact Twilight Sparkle when we arrived in Ponyville, and she already contacted Miss Sparkle through the dragon, Spike. The two live in a tree house library," Leap explained.

"T—Twilight Sparkle? We're going to meet here _now_?" Lilyflower gave a small squeal of delight and immediately set about to find the tree house. It was apparent that she hadn't heard much of what Leap said after "Twilight Sparkle".

They hadn't searched for long when they realized that finding a gigantic tree/house in the middle of a small town (especially in comparison with Canterlot), was surprisingly difficult.

Lily huffed, flipping her mane out of her eyes. "Geez, you'd think that living in a giant city would help you get a sense of direction," she said in a low voice.

Quantum Leap shrugged, but his wings shifted restlessly on his back. He really wanted to hurry and find the place they would be staying in so he could begin his studies. "Well, I suppose we must ask somepony for directions. In a small town such as this one, there is bound to be _some _pony who knows where we could find Miss Sparkle," he said.

The blue mare sighed heavily. "But it's still so _early_! We're going to have to wait for_ever_ until everypony wakes up," she complained. "We're never going to meet Twilight Sparkle," she mumbled sullenly under her breath.

"Did somepony say 'Twilight _Sparkle_'?" a loud, high-pitched voice sounded in her ear.

Lily yelped, jumping away. She stumbled, barely managing to keep on her hooves. Leap laughed at her amusing performance, and turned his attention to the pony that had frightened her. Once she disentangled her short legs, she looked at the pony as well—a bubblegum-pink mare with a poofy, magenta mane and tail.

"You scared the hay out of me. Who are you?" Lily asked breathlessly, trying to calm her racing heart.

The stranger pony didn't seem to notice how close Lily had just been to a heart attack. Instead, she looked back and forth between Lily and Leap with wildly excited blue eyes.

"Ooooh! I've never seen _you two_ around before! Oh my gosh, this is so _awesome_! I just love meeting new ponies, and since you're here, and I've never seen you before, you _must _be new ponies, because I know everyone in Ponyville! And by everyone I mean absollllllutely everyone!" The hyperactive mare threw her foreleg across Lily's back. "You and me and him have _got _to throw the biggest party _ever_!"

Lily ducked away from the pony's touch. "What? A party? Why?" she asked, disconcerted by this stranger's attitude.

"I am sure that the two of us would love to attend a party, but unfortunately, my friend and I have much work to be done," Leap added, smiling at the hilarity of the exchange. He knew Lily hated physical contact with others, so the sight of the mare awkwardly trying to move away from the pink pony made him chuckle.

The pony ignored Leap's negative, instead addressing the dumbfounded Lily, throwing yet another foreleg over the mare. "Why, a party to celebrate you coming to Ponyville of course. Silly filly. I throw everyone a party when they first come here, because they're new when they get here, and if they're new, they don't know anypony, so a party helps them get to know lots of other ponies and they _everypony_ is friends with everypony! And it's extra special because not one, but _two_ ponies are new, and they came at the exact same time, so the party has to be _huge_!"

Lilyflower wasn't sure she was even following the strange pony anymore. The rapid words pouring out of the pink mare's mouth was too overwhelming, and the unicorn felt her head spin. She'd never met an earth pony who could knock her off balance like this one could.

Quantum Leap sighed. Something told him that Lily would be preoccupied with that other pony for a while. He decided that his time could be better utilized by continuing the search for the tree house, or at least a pony who could tell him. And it looked like the only pony who could do that was busily chatting to Lily faster than the sound can travel from any mare's ear to her brain, which was pretty impressive for anything that wasn't light or a sound wave.

"What the _hay _is going on here?"

Perfect, another Ponyville mare, who was hopefully more sane than this pink one. Then he could actually figure out where in Equestria that tree house library was. The stallion turned to greet the newcomer, bowing his head respectfully.

"Salutations, ma'am. My companion and I were searching for Ms. Twi—oh." He cut off with a blink. "You _are _Ms. Twilight Sparkle. Lilyflower and I were just looking for you."

The lavender pony appeared confused at first. "Looking for me? Who are…? Oh!" Realization lit up her face. "Quantum Leap, correct?"

Quantum Leap bowed his head in confirmation. "Quite right, Ms. Sparkle. I believe the princess sent word of my coming?" he said.

Twilight Sparkle nodded slowly. "Please, call me Twilight. And yes, I received notice yesterday afternoon, although I wasn't aware that you'd arrive so early in the morning. Or that…" Her eyes slid to Lilyflower, who was still being harassed by the over-friendly pony. "…that you were bringing a friend."

"Yes, she is my assistant. Do you mind telling that other mare to cease with distracting her? Lilyflower is not very good with strange ponies," Quantum Leap said.

Twilight laughed a bit. "Ah, yes, Pinkie Pie is quite the strange pony. Hey, Pinkie! Leave your new friend alone for a while!" she called top the pink pony.

Pinkie Pie left off immediately at the sound of her friend's voice. "Ooooh, Twilight! Look! They're new here, and we just have to throw the biggest, most awesomest awesome party of awesome, _ever_! Wouldn't that just be so much fun? I can't _wait_! Oh!" Pinkie Pie jumped, suddenly remembering something. It appeared to Leap that absolutely everything with this pony was sudden. "I remember now! They were looking for you, and now you're here, so that means their quest is complete, because you're here, and they're here, and we're all _here_! That deserves another party! Yay, I'm going to go plan it and invite everypony right now!" With that, Pinkie Pie took off, leaving nothing but a dust cloud shaped suspiciously like the pony who had just left it.

Twilight chuckled nervously. "Ahaha, yeeeeah. That Pinkie Pie is really… different isn't she?" she asked.

Lilyflower paid her no heed, instead busily smoothing down her tousled mane. "Different?" she snorted. "That's an understatement."

"Putting aside that strange mare—Pinkie Pie, was it?—I do believe you are to show my companion and I where we are to be living while we are in Ponyville. And I would prefer to go there quickly, because I am quite eager to begin my work, Ms. Sparkle," Leap said, stepping between Twilight and his grumbling friend.

"Please, I told you to call me Twilight. And, yes, Princess Celestia asked me to prepare the house located next door to the library, and instructed me to permit you to use my books for research purposes, although I would be happy to allow you to use them without the princess asking me to," she replied with a polite smile. Quantum Leap seemed too formal and… and well, too much like she remembered she herself used to be before she came to Ponyville.

"Thank you very much. Lily!" he called over his shoulder to the irritated mare. "Ms. Sparkle is going to show us to our quarters now!"

"_Twilight_," she corrected him in a loud whisper.

"Wait, what?" Lilyflower's head popped up beside Leap, her whole demeanor changed. Instead of an angry scowl, a look of bright wonder filled her visage. "Twilight Sparkle? _The_ Twilight _Sparkle_? Ohmygosh, ohmygosh!"

The blue pony pushed her friend aside, closing the distance between her and her idol before Twilight had time to even blink. "I can't believe you're Twilight Sparkle! You're the most famous pony _ever_! Besides the princesses, of course. But you're the most famous _unicorn_ ever! You saved Equestria _twice_!" Lily bounced on her hooves, letting loose a squeal of utter delight.

Twilight took a step back, disconcerted by the excited mare. "Erm, yes, that's me all right," she said, not sure how to react.

Lilyflower squealed again. "Oh sweet Celestia, I can't believe I finally get to _meet_ you, Ms. Twilight Sparkle! You're my absolute _idol_!" She took a couple steps forward to close the gap again, much to Twilight's discomfort.

"Oh, well, thank you… I guess…" Twilight said, smiling uncertainly, stepping back again.

Quantum Leap nudged Lilyflower away from Twilight's personal space. "Please, Lily, do you mind allowing Ms. Sparkle to speak? At this rate, we will never get started on my research," he reprimanded her.

Lilyflower giggled sheepishly, falling back. She lowered her head in sudden shyness, her eyes still fixated upon Twilight Sparkle admiringly. "Oh, right, of course, please continue, Ms. Twilight Sparkle," she said.

Twilight groaned and rolled her eyes. "I told you two, please call me _Twilight_," she said.

The fan-filly gaped. "I can call you Twilight? As in your first name? As in, _for real_!" The smile on Lily's face threatened to fix permanently in place.

"Erm, yes, of course. But it's not really such a big deal…" Twilight confirmed uncertainly, obviously wondering if Lilyflower was going to hurt her.

Quantum Leap stepped between the two mares. "Well then, Ms. Sparkle, lead the way," he said.

It was obvious that he was determined to remain on a last-name-basis only with the ponies of Ponyville, and Twilight finally dropped the issue. She turned, sighing. "All right, let's go."

As they walked, Lilyflower trailed several steps behind, gazing at Twilight in a reverent way that unnerved the lavender mare. Quantum Leap, however, walked directly at Twilight's side, obviously considering him her equal, or more. It wasn't that Twilight was upset that he didn't think her superior to him, but it bothered her that he seemed so secretively arrogant.

She shook her head. These thoughts were just cruel of her toward new ponies that she hadn't even gotten a chance to meet. But…

That Lilyflower was _really _weird.

"Is that mare all right?" Twilight whispered, leaning in close to Leap.

Leap glanced back, and so did Twilight. When Lily saw Twilight looking at her, she trembled with absolute delight.

"Yes, I believe so. If you are questioning on her sanity, I'm sure she is not crazy. However, I am more of a physical and lab science type of stallion and psychology is not my forte. As far as her odd behavior goes, she's just your typical zealous fan-filly, and is completely harmless. Don't worry about it," Leap assured her.

Twilight gave a final glance back at Lilyflower, who trembled again. Right, obvious she was completely sane. Or not.

As Quantum Leap said, he was definitely no psychologist.


End file.
